Wichita eagle., 1887-04-30

about to commemorate the event by giving
a ball that night rode up the valley to
the house, and found it was built OF cotton
wood logs cleft in two, the ends sharpened
and driven into the ground; the stating on
the roof was Of virgin turf, with the grassy
side 10 the weather Twas quite poetical
to see the long grass waving in the wind
upon the top Of house one day old. Now
the prevailing style IN that forest city is
Eastlake or Queen Anne style. have
wandered through the meadow lands of
Kent and the Glades Of Surrey
where the Queen Anne style of
structures originated, but truth compels
me to say that the Eastlake style OF houses
in Wichita are much handsomer than those
l saw in old England. Some of them are
much prettier than any Eastlake ever drew.
viii the reader pardon parenthesis?
(When 1 reached the primitive dwelling of
twenty years ago, without dismounting,
shouted hello. at the opening that was
unencumbered by door, a gruh voice
echoed back the exclamation, hello, When
man bearded like the pard stepped out In
hunting shirt and asked. ''Well, stranger
what will you have?" l askal, will you
give me thirty minutes to preach to your
crowd, before they commence the dance
tonight? His dark eyes glistened under |
meath his shaggy brows, their errowy pu-
pills seemed as if they would penetrate my
very being, and consciousness. as he put !
the question, care you minister" Eyes, |
sir" Where do you hail from?' "St |
Louis He paused as if in deep thought |
and then said in slow manner, as if he |
was measuring every word, Look here, |
parson, can't you come up about midnight !
or little later and preach or pray, or do |
anything that's good, and I'll give you the |
best I've got in the house" | said, Il am
very tired, sir, rode from ElDorado today
and | promised to 90 back there and preach |
fCCmorrow evening in the tent OF squat
then looking up said "Parson. that's the |
very best conditions l can make. The
boys have gone off in every direction |
to lunt up some gals, you
know there's no fun in dancing |
without gals, and women folks are mighty
scarce thro' this region Of the country;
why. some of them will aave to go twenty
miles to find gal, and It will be long past
midnight before they will get back.
Won't you comet Too late, | said, l
hand and bought it down with marked
emphasis and said: Its too bad! Its too
bad What's too bad," / asked. He re-
piled, "Look here, parson, I'm not a bit
pieus; fsct is, I'm no better than oughter
be, but tell you what, I've got the best
woman in this here shack, that Coo Al
| mighty ever made; why, bless you u.Parson,
that ere woman would rather have one
sermon than three balls, she doesn't care
for dancing, but she loves to pray.)
| thof
manner, and never quite forgot the enco-
MUM he passed upon his wife. What asiient
influence good woman eXerts, her piety
and PRAYERS are balm and blessing to all
around her; it's like the fragrance OF the
flowers, it's like the dew silent but saturat-
ing, it 8 Commensurate with eternity.
| Think We the notes Of holy song,
On Miltons tuneful ear have died!
Think We that Raphaers angel throng
| Has vanished from his side!
The tissue of the life to be
| We weave with colors all our own,
And in the field of destiny
We reap as We have sown."
| Our own course of conduct determines
our destiny through all the future.
| left the shack and its occupants and
rode back to the little shanties and preached
| in one of them to sixteen persons, most OF
them children, twas all l could
find; after preaching went to a govern
ment stockade and told the sutler
that l was minister and that l had no
where to sleep, and asked him what he
could do for me; he cut open a bale OF
blankets and said: There, help yourself
to all the coverings you wish. and you can
have all the land in sight for bed room.
SO like Tecumseh, the Indian chief; said,
"God is my Father, the earth is my moth
er, and on her bosom will / recline, so
1 wrapt the drapery Of my couch around ME
And lay down to pleasant dreams"
In the morning l went down to the
bank of the Big Arkansas river and per-
formed my t,ilet under the leafy limbs of
cottonwood tree.
What change between my bedroom on
the first visit made to Wichita, and the
softly tinted ceiling under which slept on
my late visit There was an improvement
in comfort, if not in conception. occupied
broader bedroom on my first visit than
on my last, had better opportunity for
studying astronomy on the first visit, there
was milky way above my head and a
flowery plain beneath my feet, then there
was no obstruction to the view l believe
in progress, it is the watchward of the age
we live in. 1t will be the watchwOrd of
all the ages yet to be.
"Not in vain the distance beacons
Forward, forward let us range;
Let the great world spin forever
Down the ringing grooves Of change"
Amen, SO mote it be.